Briefly

TUNISIA

23 missing, four dead as migrant ships sink

At least 23 African migrants went missing and four died on Saturday after two boats sank off Tunisia as they tried to cross the Mediterranean to Italy, a judicial official said, amid a sharp rise in migrant boats from the North African country. The Coast Guard rescued 53 others off the southern city of Sfax, two of whom were in critical condition, Sfax court Judge Faouzi Masmoudi said. He added that four bodies were recovered. The National Guard said on Friday that more than 14,000 migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, were intercepted or rescued in the first three months of this year while trying to cross into Europe, five times more than the figure recorded in the corresponding period last year.

UNITED STATES

Probe opened into secret documents leak

The Department of Justice said on Saturday that it had begun an investigation into a trove of leaked US documents, many related to Ukraine, that have spread to the internet. The breach appears to include assessments and secret intelligence reports that touch not only on Ukraine and Russia but also highly sensitive analyses of US allies. A steady drip of dozens of leaked documents and slides have made their way onto Twitter, Telegram, Discord and other social media and chat sites in recent days, and new documents continue to surface. Defense analysts say any breach of internal classified US documents would be both damaging and potentially embarrassing.

DPRK

Underwater strategic weapon system tested

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea carried out another test of its newly unveiled underwater strategic weapon system from Tuesday to Friday, the country's state news agency reported on Saturday. The underwater nuclear attack drone "Haeil-2" was deployed for test in Kajin port of South Hamgyong province on Tuesday, and cruised 1,000 kilometers of simulated underwater distance in the eastern waters for 71 hours and 6 minutes, the official Korean Central News Agency reported. The latest test came days after the DPRK conducted in late March a trial operation of the drone's earlier version "Haeil-1".

Agencies - Xinhua